Taking in Google's Chrome OS

By Jim Rapoza |
Posted 2009-12-28

One of the most talked about recent releases of late 2009 was the early developer build of Chrome OS. To many observers, Chrome OS was clearly Google's attempt to take on Microsoft Windows (and offer a little payback for Microsoft's release of the Bing search engine).

But while Chrome OS may eventually have the ability to take on Microsoft Windows, right now this developer release is simply a very early (you could even call it pre-alpha) look at what Google has in mind for this operating system. And the clearlest thing that one can take away from Chrome OS is that it is the first real attempt to build an operating system based completely on the web.

While Google Chrome OS is still very basic, during my tests I was intrigued by the possibilities of it. Since the late 90's we've talked about the idea of the web browser as the operating system and Chrome OS is the first real attempt to do this.

Since it won't be released until the end of next year, it will be a while before we know if Google's attempt to build a web operating system will succeed.

To get a deeper look at my impressions of Google Chrome OS, click the following links.